This little story happened during the summer of 1964. This was a situation that turned into a one-day vacation for my young family.
This sort of gives you the idea of what “them thar hills” means.
How It All Started
It all started with my eldest sister, Grace Jean, on the far right in the photo.
My Six Sisters
It was all very innocent, Grace Jean and her husband, Howard, decided to take a two-week vacation in the mountains. What could go wrong?
Well, they decided to head for “them thar hills.” And, when I say remote, I mean way back there. They went to a fairly nice little place, but it was what you might call isolated. It had to be a place where there were walls, floors, roofs, and decent food because Grace Jean was not one to sleep in a pup tent and catch breakfast in a nearby stream.
A summer vacation in the mountains. What could be more wonderful?
Well, Something Did Go Wrong
Well, it was like this. On a Friday evening, my brother-in-law had a problem with his appendix. I believe they call it “acute appendicitis.”
Don’t worry, it get better. There was a doctor in the area but no hospital. I believe I told you the area was way back in them thar hills.
To keep this short, they ordered an ambulance for early Saturday morning to take them back to a hospital in Huntington.
How I Became Involved
Before I continue, there is something you need to know. I have six sisters, and Grace Jean is the only one who never bothered to get a driver’s license.
So, because of Grace Jean’s wise decision, late one Friday evening, my second-eldest sister, Winona, drove over to see me.
Note that she would have called except we couldn’t afford a phone. But that’s another story.
What this all boils down to is that I crawled out of bed early Saturday morning to ride over in the ambulance so that I could drive their car home.
All of this is not bad news because my wife and daughter, Carolyn and Lisa, could come along in the ambulance. What’s so great about that? Let me tell you. We could barely afford a carton of Coke; a vacation was out of the question. In other words, we had a one-day vacation.
We had almost all day, so we took a long, leisurely drive home and saw a few of the backwater attractions. We also had lunch at a local eatery. Great country cooking.
Related to mountains: “Death of the Man-Eating Monster”
